Wild Life in the Far West: Being the Personal Adventures of a Border Mountain Man. Captain James Hobbs
into the fight. I had been looking at two Indians, sleeping in a lodge not ten steps from me, and I jumped for them, leveling my rifle at one, while the other ran on all fours, between my legs, as I stood in the door- way, rising with me on his neck. I managed to slip off his back in a hurry, and was going to knock him down with the gun, but he ran a little distance and undertook to shoot me with an arrow, but a slug from my rifle hitting him between the shoulders, his arrow fell at my feet, harmless. The other Indian escaped from the opposite side of the tent just in time to save himself from a charge out of my revolver.
Spiebuck got into a lodge where there was a drunken warrior asleep among three or four squaws and pa- pooses. He shot the man, and tomahawked the women and children. By this time our forces were hotly en- gaged all over the camp, making every shot tell with fearful effect on the drunken and affrighted savages, who were running in all directions. Our Shawnees fought like devils, with their knives and tomahawks, after they had discharged their guns; while our Amer- icans, using their rifles and revolvers, were fast driving the miserable Apaches into the lake, or pursuing them across the valley.
I was reloading my rifle, when I noticed the negro, Andy, had caught up his gun barrel and was chasing an unarmed Indian. He threw the gun barrel with all his force after the Indian, and it struck him in the back of the head, knocking him down. Before he
88 REBUKE TO KIRKER.
could arise, the negro was on him. With an old butcher knife he then undertook to stab the Indian, but the knife struck a rib and glanced off. It was a tierce tussle, and might have resulted badly for Andy, if one of our party, named Robert Fry, had not rush- ed in and clubbed the Indian with his gun, after which Andy dispatched him easily.
Many of the Apaches sought refuge in the nearest mountain, while others rushed into the lake and were drowned or shot. We lost the chance of taking a great many scalps, from bodies which sunk in the lake, but as it was, we took one hundred and thirty- nine, and should have got many more if the brave but stupid negro had not discharged his gun prematurely.
The Apaches had their animals in a bottom, or flat, near the lake, and they started to run them off. They were followed by the Shawnees, who forced them to abandon the attempt, and they had to flee for their lives, while the Shawnees gathered together nearly a thousand horses, mules, and mustang ponies. Truly, a valuable prize.
The Indian chief, "Cachese," had recognized Kirker as the leader of this attacking party, who had made such fearful havoc with his tribe, and when he had reached the top of the hill with some of his followers, who were fortunate enough to escape, he turned around to look at the destruction of his camp. Kirker was gazing at him ; and when the Apache chief saw Kirker, he asked him what he meant by fighting them in this manner. Was he not their war chief? And had they not treated him like a brother always? And was he no longer their friend?
Turning to flee, with the feeble remnant of his once powerful tribe, he declared in a loud voice, intended
PUNISHMENT OF ANDY. 89
for many of us to hear, that Kirker was the last white man he would ever put any confidence in. Kirker felt the rebuke keenly, but allowed the broken-hearted chief to escape.
Kirker ordered me to take twenty men, at once, and go and bring in our animals, and the six men, which we had left behind in the ravine. This I did without delay, for there was some danger of their being cap- tured by the retreating Apaches. When we had got them united with the thousand animals taken from the Apaches, we were all ready to start on the return trip to Chihuahua, provided our Shawnees had finished scalping the Apaches.
On my return to the grove, among other startling and singular spectacles, was our negro Andy, tied to a tree, and groaning, and calling loudly for help. Kir- ker and Spiebuck took this method of punishing him for firing his gun too soon. By my advice, the poor fellow was released; but not till after Spiebuck had threatened his life if he ever disobeyed orders again. He said the reason he did not scalp him then was be- cause his kinky, wooly scalp would not fetch a cent.
Among the slain, was found the body of our Mexi- can half-breed guide, who had assisted in piloting us to this place. He had got frightened when the fight commenced, and started to run, when a Shawnee had thrown a tomahawk at him, which struck him on the head and killed him.
"Here," said Spiebuck to some of his Shawnees, "scalp that fellow."
"No," we replied, "he is our guide."
"No difference," answered Spiebuck, "he is dead now; he won't know it; and his scalp is worth fifty dollars, and is as good as any."
90 ANCIENT RUINS.
So they scalped our friend, to please Spiebuck.
At this fight, we rescued a number of Mexican wo- men and children, and made prisoners of nineteen young Apache squaws. In scouting around the head of the lake, on the opposite hill-side we found about three hundred head of sheep and goats, which the Apaches had no doubt stolen from the Mexicans, and we took them to camp and gave them in charge of the Mexican women and children.
We found, close to this lake, on a small stream of water, some ancient ruins,—the cement walls and foundation stones of a church; and a lignum vitæ cross, which seemed as sound as ever it had been. We also found remains of a smelting furnace, a great quantity of cinders, and some dross of silver and copper. From the appearance of the ruins, it seemed as if there had once been a considerable town there. The lake was the head waters of the river Yagui.
Gabe Allen, who was in our company, found in a hollow, a piece of gold, nearly pure and weighing ten ounces. That afternoon we met in council, reporting to Kirker the finding of the ruins, the gold specimens, etc. He said that there was extreme danger of having two or three thousand warriors down on us if we staid there long enough for the whole Apache nation to be aroused. He therefore counseled the utmost haste in leaving the country, even if it abounded in gold speci- mens. We had a flock of sheep to hinder us in trav- eling, and a large drove of other animals to attend to. So we packed up at once for Chihuahua, thinking we could return at some future day, with a larger force, and dig gold.
We left the country with regret, for it possessed marvelous beauty, fertile soil, and had every indica-
SPIEBUCK AND SPENCER. 91
tion of rich, mines, unworked, probably, by civilized man, to this day. Besides the remains of furnaces, we saw old mine shafts, that had been worked, appar- ently long before, by Mexicans. Specimens of gold, silver, and copper ore that we took to the mint at Chi- huahua, were assayed and pronounced very rich. For the information of the public, let me state more, particularly, that this lake is on the westerly side of the Sierra Madre (Mother Mountain), between the States of Sonora and Chihuahua. The valleys in the vicinity are broad, and the soil well adapted for culti- vation. Around the lake were growing large quantities of wild Indian tobacco.
On arriving at the place where we left the property of Mr. Pores with a guard, we found it all safe as we had left it; the animals, it will be recollected, had already been joined with ours. Considering our ex- traordinary luck, Kirker thought it best to examine the goods, and see if there was not a little good liquor left; and as a consequence, most of our force got drunk, for they found nearly twenty gallons of choice whisky in bottles among the goods.
The next morning, while on the march, a man named John Spencer, being ahead, saw a deer asleep on the side of a hill, with his head laid over on his side. He dismounted, and was slipping along to get a good shot at the deer without alarming him, when Spiebuck, who was just behind him, cocked his rifle, and about the time Spencer was going to shoot, burst out with a tre- mendous war whoop, and as the deer jumped up to run, shot him, while Spencer stood silent and amazed.
"Go and get your deer," said Spiebuck, sternly, "and never take advantage of a poor animal, while he's asleep."
92 ESCAPE OF ONE OF THE SQUAWS.
Spencer secured his deer, and it made a capital sup- per that night, for some of us, but Spencer